Any Other Day
by Gerec
Summary: Inspired by a tumblr gif set: It's Erik and Emma's wedding day and Charles has something he needs to say. Chapter 1: Charles' POV - Charles almost stops Erik's wedding. Almost. Chapter 2: Erik's POV - Erik's perfect day isn't quite perfect without Charles.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **Charles almost stops Erik's wedding. Almost.

* * *

He should have said something to Erik sooner.

There have been a million opportunities over the years, for Charles to tell his best friend how he feels. That he loves Erik – no, not as friends because of course Erik knows _that_ – but how Charles _is in love with him_ and has been since their first year in university. How he adores the way Erik gets up earlier than Charles every morning and makes the coffee before he goes out for his run. How he insists on being the designated driver so Charles never has to worry about getting home after a night out with friends.

How they flake out on the couch together on Sunday afternoons, watching old John Wayne movies and 80's cartoons.

He really should have said something a lot sooner.

Like maybe anytime before today. Erik's wedding day.

He runs and runs and runs; dodging the crowds on the sidewalk, desperate to get to the church before...

Before what? Before Erik says 'I do' with Emma? Before he runs into a room full of their family and friends and pulls 'The Graduate' and interrupts his best friend on the most important day of his life? When he had lied to Erik about having to leave early to head to Oxford, so he could get out of being best man at the wedding?

All his thoughts - the ones racing around in his head of _what am I doing_ and _this is insane_ and _Erik, Erik, Erik_ – evaporate the moment the turns the corner and sees the wedding party standing behind the church. Standing in front of the camera as the photographer takes picture after picture of the beaming newlyweds.

Charles stares at Erik, watching the sun shine down on the happy couple making Emma's dress and Erik's smile sparkle so brightly even he has no trouble seeing it from across the busy street.

He turns and rubs his face with his hand and doesn't see Erik's eyes land on him or the expression on the man's face as he walks away.

* * *

The knocking on his door manages to drag his attention from the laptop and he's surprised to see that it's already 9 o'clock at night. He's been so engrossed in his paper that he's completely missed dinner – and apparently three texts as he glances at his phone on the way to the door.

They're all from Erik.

His heart is already thumping like he's been running, even before he's read any of the messages. Why is Erik texting him? When he hasn't heard a word from him for the three weeks since he's been in Oxford?

Since the wedding.

He pulls the door open...and is stunned to see Erik standing there, looking a bit breathless like he's just run up the three flights of steps to Charles' apartment.

"Charles," Erik says with a slight shake of his head, his face filled with emotion. "I made a mistake."

He says nothing, can't find any words; doesn't understand why his best friend is here, thousands of miles away from his new life across the Atlantic.

"It's always only been you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary:** Erik's perfect day isn't quite so perfect without Charles.

* * *

It's a perfect day for a wedding.

He's surrounded by smiling faces, his groomsmen laughing as they jostle him inside the church, his family and friends stopping to wish him 'good luck' as he makes his way down the aisle. The sun is shining, the pews are packed and his parents are the happiest he's ever seen them.

But it's not quite _the_ perfect day that Erik had expected.

Because he can't stop thinking about what's missing, today of all days. Or _who's_ missing from his place at Erik's side.

He wonders why he's feeling this way, still so hurt and bereft at the thought of Charles now, probably on his way to the airport. That his best friend couldn't stay just a few more days, to be the rock Erik's always counted on since the day they met.

Maybe he should have told Charles, how much he needed him. That he's never met anyone who understood him and accepted him so easily – his reticence and his mercurial temper; who loved him without judgement and without reserve. How Charles has the kindest soul and the biggest heart that Erik has ever known. That he can't think or breathe when he thinks about the next two years and what life will be like without Charles in it every day.

The realization of what it all means only hits him later, after he and Emma exchange their vows. When he's standing outside in the sunshine, posing with his new bride for the photographer. When his eyes land on the unmistakeable figure of Charles across the street, turning and walking away from him.

* * *

He tells Emma the next day. And it goes over about as well as can be expected.

She listens to him with a slight frown on her lips but doesn't interrupt as he pours his heart out to her. He loves her, very much – she's smart and sophisticated and perfect, full of life and love and the strength of character that Erik has always admired. But he doesn't love her enough for a happy marriage, he tells her as tears run down his face, if he feels the way he feels about Charles.

When he's finished, Emma slaps him hard across the face and then pulls him into a hug. Her eyes are wet but she doesn't cry, choosing to deal with the situation with her usual stoicism and grace. They drink whiskey together until they pass out, then wake and talk into the early hours of the next morning before Erik finally falls asleep in her arms.

They talk and talk and talk some more over the next three weeks, until finally she tells Erik to go to Oxford. She loves Charles too – the two are childhood best friends – and whatever happens between all of them now he has a right to know the truth. It'll be difficult and complicated and messy, she says, and Tony will probably ruin him if he doesn't hurry up and figure things out.

* * *

He thinks about it all the way to the airport and during the flight over, of what he should say to Charles. That he loves watching Charles laugh, his eyes crinkling with mirth at something Erik says. That he hates the organic wheat toast Charles makes them for breakfast, but eats it every day because it makes Charles smile. That nothing makes him happier than coming home late at night, to find Charles on the couch with a book in hand having fallen asleep waiting for Erik.

He wants to say 'I'm in love with you' and 'I need you in my life' and 'I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner what you mean to me'. Nothing seems adequate to express what he's feeling, or the cluster fuck he's made of Emma's life because of his inability to know his own heart.

And when the door opens and Charles is there, staring at him with wide eyes and an expression of bewilderment and undisguised hope, it's the only thing he can think to say.

"It's always only been you."


End file.
